Environmental racism focus of project

Lincolnville residents held a protest in front of the legislature in 2006 over plans to locate a garbage dump near their community. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff / File)

A new research project is looking at environmental racism in Nova Scotia.

Project members have already met with residents in Lincolnville, Guysborough County, and this Saturday are holding a public forum at the North Preston Community Centre at noon.

The North Preston discussion will be about what environmental racism is, whether it is still going on and what can be done about it.

The discussion will include a discussion about wind turbines, which researcher Ingrid Waldron of the Dalhousie University school of nursing said were approved for the area without public input.

The discussion is part of a research effort called the Enrich Project that is looking at the effects environmental racism can have on the health of indigenous black and Mi’kmaq communities in Nova Scotia.

Waldron, an assistant professor, said she wants the project to get community members talking about the health and other effects of toxic waste dumps, landfills and other unwanted projects.

“We’re trying to get a sense of whether they would want to advocate around these issues, and if they think that a research project lead by me and my team would help them in their advocacy efforts.”

Other meetings will be held in Membertou, Yarmouth and Halifax, she said, with the idea of getting everyone together on one common concern.

Waldron and her team are also preparing a video documentary.

Residents from Lincolnville, where there is long-standing concern about cancer rates, talked about how the younger generation has moved away, she said.

“Nobody wants to live in the area, but also there are no job opportunities there. No one wants to build homes there because land values have declined, and labour has been affected because nobody wants to set up shop in an area close to a landfill.”

Few people turned out in Lincolnville, but that is because they are “tired” after dealing with the issue for years and not being heard, she said.

But Waldron said “we got great information.”

She said she hopes her research “provides some kind of evidence of the impact these industries have had on their lives: their health experiences and other experiences in their communities.

“I think that’s research we can do. It can bring a voice to their concerns. It could perhaps, in some way, prove or document some of the issues they’ve been discussing for years that have been ignored.”